Self Made: NASE's Blog

Welcome to the Self Made. This is a blog focused primarily on the self-employed and micro-business and full of fantastic posts by not only our team of experts but by YOU! We realize that there are many ways to help the small businesses out there which is why we invite other business minded individuals to post here and help the rest of the community as well.

It is no longer just a good idea for small business owners to create and maintain a presence across several social media platforms; it is a necessity. Thanks to the internet and social media, it has never been easier to start a dialogue with your customers. This is especially beneficial to small businesses with miniscule marketing budgets.

The United States Supreme Court’s recent, historic decision in King v. Burwell, upholding the right of federal premium assistance, guaranteed millions of Americans the right to keep their healthcare. Last month’s ruling, along with the previous 2012 Supreme Court decision affirming the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, was a profound victory for the ideal that healthcare should be a right of all Americans – rich or poor, individual or small business owner. These decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court mark the existence – and importance -- of the nation’s new healthcare system by keeping the law in tact and establishing a precedent for future debates regarding healthcare in America.

Business credit cards are a popular and valuable resource which, when used responsibly, can help you make purchases and organize your spending, all while getting some perks on the side.
Most issuers offer credit cards for small businesses and freelancers in addition to their regular cards, and there are 3 important things you need to know about them.

The best apps are the ones that give business owners and entrepreneurs flexibility. Whether they sell services or merchandise, rely on employees or work alone, an owner's talents and energies should be concentrated on the things that count. The best apps are the ones that use automation to free up an entrepreneur's already limited time. Here are six apps that help business owners manage their money, their merchandise, their marketing and more.

You most likely have used Uber to get you where you want, or NoWait to snag a reservation at a hot, new restaurant, or bought gifts through the online marketplace Etsy. These services, and many more like it, are part of a growing and on-demand business demographic called the "freelance economy." From sharing rides to purchasing items online and even providing accommodation on sites such as AirBnB, individuals can set up their own small business and operate from their driver's seat or couch.

Being self-employed, managing your own business and financials as an entrepreneur can be very rewarding, but at other times is challenging. Small businesses are still the backbone of the American economy with over 50% of them being operated from homes rather than traditional office environments. There are more than 22 million self-employed in the US with no additional employees or payroll expenses other than their owner.

Bill is responsible for sales at his company and considers himself a tenacious worker. Whenever he discovers a new prospect, he enters him or her into the system. From there, he will attempt to contact that person by phone, through email and even via office visit if possible. However, after a number of failed attempts, Bill is likely to toss the person into the sea of dead prospects.

With just days until the midterm elections, you can definitely count on one demographic group to show up at the polls: women small business owners. By an overwhelming margin -- 86 percent -- women entrepreneurs intend to go to the polls to cast their ballots across this nation. And who will win their support? They plan tovote for candidates who have a pro-business agenda that supports policies to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.

The small business community, including self-employed and micro-businesses, welcomed a major benefit this tax year: a new, streamlined IRS home office standardized deduction. The new, standardized deduction is available to small business owners and the self-employed as an option for the 2013 tax year (returns filed in 2014).

As the first inside salesperson for PTC, a Needham, Mass.-based software company, Brian Halligan got his start cold calling until his “fingers bled,” he quipped during a recent interview with me. Later, when a venture capitalist enlisted him to bring the PTC playbook to a host of portfolio companies, he realized that old industry standbys needed a drastic overhaul if marketers hoped to cut it in an increasingly social-centered world. So in 2006, he and Dharmesh Shah, a classmate from business school, launched HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company that Halligan touts as the accessible solution for “normal” marketing guys like himself.